P85 / P89 Trigger spring replacement

[sargents1]

I have had an old school P85MKII for a few years now and I have been putting up with it's heavy-Effing trigger for the whole time. It has always been pretty smooth (probably because this particular gun has been ridden hard and put up wet for years...it feels almost worn out), but its spongy and relatively heavy. This makes it hard to shoot well, the harder you try the worse it seems to be because you are fighting the trigger. If you give up and just blaze away like a gangster, its actually pretty accurate but it sucks when shooting from a rest.

Well, tonight I got ambitious and did something about it. A while back I had ordered a replacement spring pack from Wolff which showed up today. The springs were 8.69$ (plus shipping) from MidwayUSA. As usual, Midway was fast and correct. No BS and good pricing.

Installation was straightforward.

Field-strip the gun.

Take the grips off and drift the little retainer pin out. This is the pin that retains the lanyard-ring/spring plug thingy.

Before you drift the pin out - Take Note of where the hammer strut lives. You want to be able to put that back where it came from. Its the little do-hickey that the hammer spring rides on in the backstrap of the gun.

The pin is pretty easy to pop out. Make sure you take care not to let the lanyard ring/spring retainer plug go flying when you pull the punch out.
(I used a Glock tool for a punch)

Once that is done, the spring, and hammer strut come right out.

Here you can see my original spring (top) and replacement spring (bottom). For some reason the replacement spring was longer than the original. I am not sure, but I think the spring that was in the gun might have been shortened. The replacement spring was a bear to put in until I put my multi-tool to good use and clipped a couple of coils off it so that it's length matched the spring I pulled out of the gun.

Once that was done, re-assembly was a breeze. The trigger pull is now lighter than it was in both DA and SA modes. Everything seems to function properly, but the final test will have to wait until later when I can do some shooting.

Until then,

It's Miller Time.

Cheers,

 

[blume357]

Okay, we are waiting for a range report. It has been over a day now....

 

[roylt]

Why would you cut a brand new spring simply based on length? The spring could have a different "strength" of steel which would yield a different feel etc. Hope it works well.

Also if you push in on the lanyard loop a little the pin almost falls out by itself. Held by the spring pressure and the grips.

 

[Mortblanc]

I see light hammer strikes in someone's future.

 

[sargents1]

I see light hammer strikes in someone's future.

That is a possibility. If I get inconsistent ignition (caused by light hammer strikes) I can always go back to the original spring, or one of the two other reduced power (but heavier than the one I used) springs that came in the pack.

Just based on dry-firing the gun, it seems to function properly and it Looks like the hammer is falling with enough force, but we will see after a range session.

 

[sargents1]

Why would you cut a brand new spring simply based on length? The spring could have a different "strength" of steel which would yield a different feel etc. Hope it works well.

Also if you push in on the lanyard loop a little the pin almost falls out by itself. Held by the spring pressure and the grips.

I cut the spring to make it match the spring I removed and to make it easier to install.

Also, it is true that pushing on the lanyard ring/spring plug you release the tension on the retaining pin and it will come out with minimal force. I found that using the Glock Tool (or other punch) was nice because it gives you a convenient way to hang on to the lanyard ring and prevent it from going flying across the room.

 

[blume357]

My thinking is the folks at Wolf probably know better than me at least on how long that spring is supposed to be.... I guess it's worth a try though I would have tried it before cutting it any. I put one on one of my P95s a while back and have never had a problem.

 

[sargents1]

My thinking is the folks at Wolf probably know better than me at least on how long that spring is supposed to be.... I guess it's worth a try though I would have tried it before cutting it any....

Pfftttt, I come from a long line of Certified Experts.
Men and Women that know every-damn-thing...Just Ask 'em!
Even if you dont ask they're going to tell you anyway.

Glory to the Bold!

Plus, If I messed it up I can put it back to stock easy enough. :wink:

 

[blume357]

Good points... and I'm kind of the same way... I would have just tried the spring as it was first, now you'll never know.

 

[sargents1]

Good points... and I'm kind of the same way... I would have just tried the spring as it was first, now you'll never know.

Not so. I still have the 20 and 21lb springs that are original length. If I have issues with the 19lb spring that I trimmed, I can go to the un-trimmed 20lb spring....should be pretty darned close.

 

[sargents1]

Well, Blume, you and Mortblanc were right. I shortened the 19lb spring a little too much.

My wife and I did the Maine CWP class over the weekend and I was getting occasional light-strikes where the gun would not light-off the primer on the first hit. A quick second trigger pull did the trick. I was using Tula steel case El-Cheapo ammo. That ammo may be Berdan primed (will have to check) and that might have something to do with it.

Anyway, I put in a full length 20lb spring and I will retest the gun to see if that fixed it.

BTW, the trigger now feels the same as it did before i started this process.
Oh well.

 

[wixedmords]

Well, you took a shot at it sargents1. No harm in that.

There might be some more information that turns up that may help you with your issue. Might try snipping one coil off that 20lb spring. You get playing with it and you are likely to need another new set, but like you listed, another set don't seem to cost very much.

 

[Sloman]

now if only I could find a way to reduce the trigger pull on my P97!

 

[sargents1]

now if only I could find a way to reduce the trigger pull on my P97!

I am pretty sure that the P97 uses the same arrangement as the P85/89 with the exception that it does not have removable grip panels. On the Poly framed guns the pin is visible in the bottom portion of the grip. In fact, this might be even easier since you wouldnt have to take the grips off.

 

[Sloman]

Thanks Sargents1, I'm scared to death to touch it! LOL

 

[sargents1]

Thanks Sargents1, I'm scared to death to touch it! LOL

When in doubt, consult the Manual.

Ruger has them available for download. Plus there are lots of Youtube videos showing this kind of thing. Look'em up.

I would say that as long as you have a spare, have at it. The worst that could happen is you might mess it up and it would cost you some $$$ to get someone to fix it, but that is unlikely.

 

[sargents1]

The 20Lb full length spring works fine. The trigger does seem lighter than it was but I would have to re-install the original and compare back to back.

Anyway, the gun shoots as well as ever. I won the 25yd Production class at a local club a while back when they did the Dave Schneider Memorial shoot. Not bad for a gun most folks think is not accurate.

http://www.frandg.org/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?,b=,v=action_pistol